My own personal experience of bell ringing, proper stuff in a church tower with one of those stripy, plush ropes and a fusty damp atmosphere, is pretty limited.
I was pursuing a minimum standard necessary to get an achievement badge in Scouts. That was back in the 1970's, an era well before the spread of Health and Safety into well, everything.
In a quick glance at the range of badges offered by Scouting currently I could not find any reference to bell ringing. I can probably guess why- the risk assessment and insurance premiums would be too much to cope with by most local Scout Troops.
Back then it was a case of Me and a few other from my scout group just turning up for a regular bell ringing practice session at the ancient and historic Anglican Church in our town . We placed out lives, limbs and general well being in the hands of the regular campanologists, men and women of the Parish with, or so it appeared to me, an average age of about 80 years.
My perception of bell ringing was based mostly on TV and film comedy sketches of flying monks, dangling clergy and demonic and demented steeple dwellers or cartoons in my weekly Beano or Dandy with hazardous but hilarious capers by my favourite characters involving bats in the belfry and other mishaps.
I was therefore very cautious, well in fact more like downright petrified about what could happen in a worst case scenario in my introduction to the activity.
I need not have worried. Our hosts as tutors were the nicest people you could expect to find up a steeple on a weekday evening. They were kind, patient and very tolerant of our initial giggling and whispering before we came to realise that it was serious business requiring a lot of concentration and a surprising level of athleticism.
I did, for two hours per week over the next six weeks, progress a bit or at least enough to get the merit badge and it took pride of place on one arm of my green patrol uniform between awards for cooking and cycling.
One benefit from my brief skirmish with bell ringing and that my family remarked about was an improvement in my upper body strength, breathing and overall fitness. I of course put this down to my youthfulness and tendency to run frantically everywhere rather than from the cumulative 12 hours of pulling on a rope.
It now appears that the promotion of Bell ringing for fitness is being used by churches nationwide to attract new enthusiasts with one strap line being "You've heard of workouts with dumbbells, now try church bells".
Everyone knows that bells are amongst the largest and loudest instruments in the world but many may not have realised that they are also the perfect way to get gentle physical exercise and increase active living for people who are looking for alternatives to conventional sport. Sport! Yes, it appears that campanologists are pressing for their hobby/pastime to be recognised as a sport on the basis that it is a physical activity and particularly as many other pursuits of a similar low key have been elevated to a sporting status such as angling and archery.
In some respects I can see why bell ringing may have a case. Whilst bells can weigh up to 4,500kg most are much lighter and are rung using mainly technique rather than strength. The motion required for bell ringing often helps many people to stay active longer and increase agility.
Professional trainers and health experts now recommend bell ringing to improve i) agility, ii)co-ordination, and reaction times iii) tone core abdominal muscles and glutes, iv) work biceps, quads and calves all with minimal force to develop muscle endurance .
There are over 4,000 sets of bells in England alone and lots bell ringers nationwide so plenty of opportunities to take part. Actual Research has backed up the campaign of the churches in confirming physical and lifestyle benefits. It was found that bell ringers could look forward to improved agility, co-ordination, reaction time and balance, plus improved muscle endurance and cardiovascular fitness. My octogenarian hosts were living proof of these attributes.
A study also identified that as a gentle and inherently sociable pastime, bell-ringing was an ideal ‘gateway’ to improved fitness and healthy living. Bell ringing requires you to think and use your memory, which is great for keeping the mind as well as the body active. Mastering the sport of bell-ringing is a skill that does require many months of dedicated practice to become an expert.
Personally I could not make out any of the peals or patterns of ringing however hard I tried. At that young age I obviously lacked the focus and concentration to appreciate the complex chiming patterns and alternating rhythmic sounds.
It is also necessary to get to the bells to ring them and this typically involves the climbing of a steep winding belfry staircase promoting a full-body cardiovascular work-out.
Those keen on more of an endurance type sporting activity should not discount bell ringing .Special occasions,such as national commemorations, festivals or the announcement of invasion by a hostile enemy can mean that some bell ringing performances last for over 3 hours.
All of these factors make for a convincing case for those looking to improve fitness to flock to their local bell tower and get to work. I can see only one downside and that is a heartfelt sympathy for those who live within hearing distance of those damn bells.
(source article;Bellringing.org)
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